NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space • Hacker News Board

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#41

Post by beambot » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:35 PM UTC

scott_s wrote: post #37

aab1d wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the link. Makes me wonder, if life did come from space then we will have to start exploring space more seriously. The possibility of a aliens existing somewhere else cannot be ignored any longer.

This HN thread links to an article that describes the enormous difficulties in interstellar travel: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2639456

Mind you... space exploration does not have to be interstellar. There are probably lots of interesting discoveries to be had here in our own backyard.

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#42

Post by hugh3 » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:36 PM UTC

Before anyone gets too excited:

Amino acids on a comet, 2009: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17628-found-first-amin...

Amino acids in interstellar space, 2002: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2558-amino-acid-found-...

and a few more examples exist if you google "amino acids in space".

We've known about amino acids in space for a long time. Amino acids exist all over the damn place.

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#43

Post by peteretep » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:41 PM UTC

torstesu wrote: post #8

I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?

http://i.imgur.com/nta4G.gif

(from SMBC, and I can't find the original :-P)

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#44

Post by benhoyt » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:43 PM UTC

torstesu wrote: post #8

I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?

A statement from within orthodox Christianity about this (http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/248/are_god_and_al...):

   God became man in Jesus in order to save us. So if
   there are also other intelligent beings, it’s not a
   given that they need redemption. They might have
   remained in full friendship with their creator.

The article also includes an interesting quote from C. S. Lewis on the subject:

   I look forward with horror to contact with the other 
   inhabited planets, if there are such. We would only 
   transport to them all of our sin and our acquisitiveness, 
   and establish a new colonialism. I can’t bear to think of 
   it. But if we on Earth were to get right with God, of 
   course, all would be changed. Once we find ourselves 
   spiritually awakened, we can go to outer space and take 
   the good things with us. That is quite a different 
   matter.

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#45

Post by kia » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:56 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #42

Before anyone gets too excited: Amino acids on a comet, 2009: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17628-found-first-amin... Amino acids in interstellar space, 2002: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2558-amino-acid-found-... and a few more examples exist if you google "amino acids in space". We've known about amino acids in space for a long time. Amino acids exist all over the damn place.

I agree about not getting too excited. But to be precise in this case they are talking about nucleobases [1] which are building blocks of DNA. Amino acids [2] are building blocks of proteins.

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleobase [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#46

Post by hirenj » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:57 PM UTC

baxter wrote: post #5

The original NASA article: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorit...

Can anyone find the actual article on PNAS? The closest I can get is http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/08/04/1105715108.abst...

And this is the lab page, that also has no info on the paper.

http://astrobiology.gsfc.nasa.gov/analytical/index.html

This is one thing that consistently annoys me about most scientific journalism online, and about the press releases by institutions. Is it really that hard to post a link to the abstract page of the actual journal?

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#47

Post by srl » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 1:59 PM UTC

axusgrad wrote: post #35

Universe is only 13 billion years old, life on Earth started ~4.5 billion years ago, and the travel times are pretty long. Even if DNA came from outer space, it would have had to start somewhere. At some point it must have developed from inorganic components.

The current theory is that the organic material actually originated on the asteroids themselves - on a class known as "CM2 Meteorites". (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorit... - last couple of paragraphs)

Also according to that article, we've successfully reproduced the process of creating organic matter from inorganic matter.

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#48

Post by powertower » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 2:03 PM UTC

Amino acids have also been made by slamming meteorite like material into earth like material at impact speeds (impact chemistry creates them due to the greate pressures and energy involved).

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#49

Post by ANH » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 2:03 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #42

Before anyone gets too excited: Amino acids on a comet, 2009: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17628-found-first-amin... Amino acids in interstellar space, 2002: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2558-amino-acid-found-... and a few more examples exist if you google "amino acids in space". We've known about amino acids in space for a long time. Amino acids exist all over the damn place.

Yes, but what's interesting about this are the mechanisms of formation and delivery. We have evidence of how these things were formed in space and then delivered to Earth. It's not little green men, but a piece of the puzzle. I think it's pretty damn cool.

Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space

#50

Post by CWuestefeld » Tue, Aug 09, 2011, 2:21 PM UTC

rufibarbatus wrote: post #17

corin_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your second sentance is irrelevant, it's not like every living thing on earth is believed to go to heaven.

It may be relevant precisely because not every living thing on earth is believed to go to heaven. "But these guys don't get to go to heaven" is part of the rationale behind a lot of modern genocides, and before that many cases of slaughter and slavery. If we or the aliens are to think that of each other, hey, that's enough premise for a real-life Hollywood classic.

Right. Even if these hypothetical aliens have souls, what happens when we discover that there was no Christ crucified on their world? From that, we'll have to conclude that either

1) They can't be absolved of their sins, since Jesus didn't die for them.

2) The Earthly Jesus died for all sentient beings across the universe, but the fact that he did so on Earth demonstrates that Earthlings have a special place in God's creation (also, note that the Old Testament Jews were God's chosen people).

In a religious context, no good can come of this.